Sing Child
by Valkyrien
Summary: WildChild, a.k.a Kyle Gibney, and Laura, a.k.a X-23, are causing quite a stir with their strange new public affection. Whatever can it mean? Mention of Romy, Jonda and Lancitty. Because I can.


**DISCLAIMER: If you believe that I own anything here or am affiliated with Marvel then you didn't notice the 'fanfiction' tag that goes with this page and you must be a bit simple. Oh well. I own nothing. Happy now?**

**

* * *

**

**Sing Child**

It didn't often happen that anyone actually saw them doing anything vaguely or even remotely couple-y together, but when it did happen it was the talk of the town. Many a dismal breakfast had been perked up and metaphorically caffeinated by a tale of them having had a couples-moment in public. Once or twice it even ocurred that they'd been not-quite-in-public and had been witnessed indulging in a little coupledom anyway. So when they came down to the kitchen that Monday morning – another big deal in the X-house since Kyle hated communal meals and Laura hated Mondays in general – and he lifted her onto the counter and she pulled him in by the hair and proceeded to kiss him more than a little unchastely right there in front of several students who were sluggishly pursuing things like toast and orangejuice, the news spread like wildfire through the mansion before they'd even detached faces. Suddenly, the students entering the kitchen were looking either eager or expectant rather than tired and near death, and yet still the canoodling couple seemed totally oblivious to all the excitement the otherwise perfectly boring and commonplace act was generating. For kissing in the mansion was not exactly uncommon. Bobby and Amara were either joined at the hip, hand, or lips at all times, Jubilee and Angelo were often to be seen hiding behind couches and having a 'moment' of their own, and Remy and Rogue's celluoid-perfection kissing style was famed in the surrounding counties as nothing less than epic. The excited teenagers' great amazement at this oddity in their Monday morning breakfast routine lasted only until Amara came in with her digital camera and lined up for what would be conclusive proof that Laura and Kyle really did do some things the way normal people did.

Raising the device that would make her Facebook profile the talk of Bayville, Amara took a deep breath and, egged on by Bobby's frantic encouraging waves, put her finger on the button that would make it all possible. She hadn't counted on the counter-couple having an accomplice.

Amara froze, the expression of deep concentration and delight still on her face as her camera dropped into the overlarge hand of the little girl standing beside her, who carried the offending item to Kyle. The blonde feral let go of Laura to look down at the miniature person and took the camera from her with an indulgent smile none of the others were sure they'd ever seen him use before, dangling it from it's wrist-strap and dunking it in Laura's coffeemug like an oversized teabag. She frowned at him.

"I wanted that," she protested, and he let it sink into the liquid without a second glance, handing over his own mug which she took as though it were her own and nothing had ever happened, and signing something to Torpid, who grinned and signed back at him.

"We'll be late, woman. Make with the haste already," he said gruffly, and Laura drained her coffee, put the mug in the sink, raised her arms to let him sling her over his shoulder, and the couple disappeared out the side door. The silent kitchen descended as one over the small chestnut-haired girl who had aided and abetted the strangeness, and the noise started up again.

"Tori baby, I'll give you twenty bucks if you tell me why that just happened!" Tabitha yelled, Bobby shoving her to one side, his paralysed girlfriend seemingly water under the bridge as he put on his best wheedling tone and knelt by Torpid, who looked bewildered and uncomfortable.

"Don't listen to her, Torp', I'll totally buy you ice cream every day from now to Christmas if you tell me what's up with them, it's for Amara, she'll want to know, it'll really mean a lot to – _herp!_" Jubilee's hip made sharp contact with Bobby's shoulder and he sprawled onto the floor in a heap as she leant in and smoothed back Torpid's hair in a motherly sort of way.

"Torpid, _chica_, don't you listen to him. Laura would want me to know if something was going on with her and Kyle – " Angelo cut in nervously,

"Jubecita, I don't think – "

"Angelo!" her voice was a threat and his protests subsided as she replaced her smile and began her attempts at gathering the info of the day – perhaps even the year. Luckily for Torpid, at that moment –

_**SLAM! **_The door swung wide open, crashing into the wall, and Pyro entered, Wanda in tow. Torpid tore away from the hungry vultures otherwise known as gossips and ran to his side, hiding behind Wanda.

"Hey honey, did they leave yet? Did we miss them?" Torpid nodded furiously, and Wanda glared at John.

"I told you! We're late now and I told you we would be, this is all your fault! I am so blaming you if it's started by the time we get there!" John winced and pleaded his case to the irate witch whose arms were crossed so tightly under her breasts she'd grown a cup size.

"I'm sorry luv, but it'll be alrigh' as long as we take off now – Kyle won' mind if we're five minutes late, will he?" Huffing her displeasure Wanda made a noncomittal sound that could have been 'I suppose not' and John beamed at her and kissed her cheek, wrapping his arm around her.

"Righ' then, we're off! If ya see Rem' an' Rogue, tell 'em we're on our way, righ'?" he addressed Torpid who nodded again, and then the next-weirdest couple in Bayville left the kitchen in almost as spectacular a fashion as Kyle and Laura, John pulling Wanda out with a loud, enthusiastic,

"To the bike!** Away!**" Torpid took advantage of the general confusion of this combined with Amara's sudden regaining of her faculties to slip away unnoticed and the chaos began anew.

Once in the hall she was nearly run over by Remy who was being dragged by Rogue as he attempted to put on his left boot properly and walk briskly at the same time, and he fell into Rogue trying to avoid Torpid, eliciting an unearthly yelling in the sweet cadence of the deep South.

"Why didn' Ah listen t' Laura an' make you sleep somewhere else las' nagh'? We're late now an' we'll never get there in tahme without breakin' the goddamn _sound barrier_ an' Ah swear if Ah miss a damn thang your ass is _mahne_, Cajun!" Remy finally got the last buckle tightened and straightened to kiss her on the nose, all contrition and deference.

"_Je suis désole, ma belle chere_, we'll get dere in time, Remy make sure of it," he promised her, winking at Torpid who grinned, and then making off with Rogue in hand as they raced out to where Remy's bike was parked in the gravel driveway and drove off at twice the speed limit the Professor generally allowed. Torpid walked to the Professor's office and tapped lightly on the door.

"Come in, dear," the pleasant voice from within bade her, so she opened the door and entered the well-decorated room, waiting for the wheelchair-bound telepath to lay down his pen and look at her. He did.

"Have they all been and gone?" he asked. At her nod, he smiled and sighed.

"Ah... I wish them much happiness. Did you tell the others anything?" She shook her head twice and he nodded sagely.

"I think that was wise. Let them tell everyone in their own way." Torpid's smile was luminous.

* * *

There was a curfew of ten o'clock for everyone under 21 at the mansion, but this was largely ignored by Remy, Rogue, Laura, Kitty, and Kyle, the last of which claimed he didn't know what it meant in characteristic sarcastic fashion. Even so, coming home at something past three was a bit steep. Nonetheless, noone mentioned it at all – Logan not being home, having vanished at the same time as the others for something 'too important to miss', and Storm just smiling at them when they returned looking happy and shiny-eyed, Kyle carrying Laura over the threshold and then whisking her away to their room where they weren't seen exiting again until well past two the next day. And so it was that the entire mansion remained abuzz with rumour and supposition, the idea that something must have happened running rampant amongst the younger students. A small contingent of them tried to waylay the odd couple as they left their room to sneak off to Rogue and Remy's, but Laura was too fast for them and none of them fancied asking Kyle outright where all the affection was suddenly coming from so they let him be. Such questions had previously met with unfavourable response.

A strange lull of expectation sank over the mansion that Tuesday night, dinner being a subdued affair, neither of the resident involved parties appearing to partake of Storm's excellent roast. Any questions regarding why they were seemingly holed up in Rogue and Remy's room still were met with a gentle reprimand with regards to keeping one's nose to oneself lest it meet with someone's claws, and nothing more was really said on the subject until the students filed out of the kitchen to the rec. room to mull over the recent events in the comfort of their overstuffed armchairs. But the rec. room wasn't as empty as it should have been. Instead, Remy was placing bowls of popcorn around the place strategically and Rogue was inserting a DVD in the player beneath the latest flatscreen to grace the so often punished epicentre of teenage togetherness. Bobby clung to Amara's hand almost as if afraid to let go, and Rahne bounded in and sat herself right in front of the middle couch in her canine form. Leech and Ilyana were already seated on their bean bags to one side, sharing popcorn and talking amongst themselves. Jamie and Torpid shared an armchair, Torpid signing something to Jamie that was making his grin spread wider with every passing second.

"Siddown, y'all, we've arranged a little surprise for everyone," Rogue called exuberantly, her Cajun lover smiling at her with appreciatively glowing eyes as she winked at him and added a little extra angle to the way she was standing. It did not go unmissed. The students took up seats where they could find them, Jubilee and Angelo for once choosing to sit on a couch and not behind one. The whispered 'what do you think's spread through the room and Rogue plonked herself down on Remy in their armchair and were about to press play when Wanda entered from the other side of the room and sat down next to the children, saying hushed hello's to them. She was presently joined by John who settled himself behnd her, arms around her waist as she leant on him. They nodded at Rogue and Remy, Remy contenting himself wih a manly nod at John and a wink at Wanda, Rogue calling out her greeting.

"Hey! We were just about to start!" she trilled, and Wanda pushed John into a more comfortable position, settling on him like a cat on a pillow before replying,

"Sorry we're late, traffic on the bridge. Go ahead!" with a grin that was all Scarlet Witch. The students didn't look bothered that they were joined by guests like this, Wanda and John sometimes popped round just to hang out, but the way they were communicating with Rogue and Remy non-verbally was suggestive of shared secrets. Rogue raised her arm again to press play, but Kitty skidded in from the kitchen, pulling a cute, powder-blue beret from her hair and pouncing on the last non-filled couch, Lance two steps behind her and settling next to her with his arm slung casually around her shoulders. The tiny phaser jumped in place excitedly before nodding to Rogue to continue. Logan appeared in the doorway next to Storm, arms crossed and smirk in place. Rogue pressed play, the screen went from blue pause to black readiness, and then came alive.

* * *

There was a shaky shot of several familiar-looking bikes parked haphazardly under a tree, then the camera was turned on Rogue, who was applying dark red lipstick with the aid of a little mirror, and a distinctly Australian voice said,

"It's showtime, people! There's our lovely Rogue, getting her face on righ' – " Rogue looked up at him realising she'd been caught on camera fixing her makeup, but instead of the usual threats and yelling she smiled at him and waved towards the camera. There was a moment's hesitation, then he swivelled the camera so that the view fixed on a nervous-looking Remy who was reading from a piece of paper and mouthing the words.

" – there's our official-for-a-day, Remy, gettin' his words righ' – has ta be perfect!" the cheerful commentary persisted, the camera moving on to a mild-looking Storm who was putting something on the head of someone small and dark-haired enough to be Laura, but then the camera was viciously yanked to one side and the screen was filled with a none-too-pleased-looking Wanda who happened to be immensely photogenic in close-up.

"Wanda, there's my blessed angel, all pretty as can be – " John sighed happily, and Wanda pointed an angry finger at the camera and narrowed silver-lined eyes at him.

"I see that thing pointing at her before time and I will – " the camera scrambled to another scene, this time a solemn-faced Kyle who was speaking in low tones with Wolverine and nodding at the older man's words every now and then.

"That'll be the Big Speech," the commentator said in a wry, calm voice that was recognisable as Lance's despite some mild distortion, the camera moving to another shot of Remy who was standing very close to Rogue and looking quite wretched. The Southern Belle gave him an air-kiss so as not to upset her makeup and said something to him that seemed to lift his dark cloud somewhat. The commentator remarked,

"Good to have a good woman by your side on a day like this," then moved to a professionally-zoomed shot of Kitty who was fluffing her hair under a little silver tiara-band. She noticed the camera's presence and waved at her man, blowing him a kiss. Again, the camera scrambled, again it focused on something new, this time Wanda helping to lace someone's black boot, the picture shifting to Rogue again, the Southern Gothic resplendent in a simple black dress, adorned with half-inch spikes along the wide-cut neckline. She was speaking to someone out of the frame and the commentator said in a rich, kind voice,

"There's our Rogue, just as beautiful as if this were her day... It'll come, I'm sure of it..." There was a grunt and a gruff voice commented,

"Let's not get carried away, 'Ro..."

Again, there was a scrambling, but this time the scene revealed when the view cleared was one of a blood-red sunset sky past the cliff they were stood on, and all the previously shown were lined up on either side of a stretch of lawn like an aisle between them, Remy standing next to Kyle at the end of it, and then the cameraview was shifted to a darker part of the tree-strewn lawn they were on and a procession led by Rogue who was smiling as though concealing tears of joy advanced slowly.

The view shifted with them to show the dark-veiled black-clad Laura between Wanda and Kitty who were each holding an edge of the fluttering veil 'twixt finger and thumb, both smiling, although Kitty was smiling through free-flowing tears.

There was a zooming, and Laura drew level with Logan, who looked at her proudly before kissing her forehead and allowing her to move on, walking the last three steps on her own and standing next to Kyle. The blonde feral's blue eyes shone with unidentifiable emotion as he looked at the black-veiled girl, and they turned to face Remy, who began to speak after a quick glance to the left where his _chere_ stood.

"Dearly beloved, we come here t'day t' witness de joinin' of dis man an' dis woman in matrimony," he said, smiling at the couple before continuing.

"Now, normally dere'd be borin' vows here, an' lots o' talkin' bout God, but dey wan'ed t' write personal ones so over t' y', _petite_," he said, winking at Laura, who ducked her head and then turned to face Kyle, taking his hand in hers and speaking in a slow, clear voice.

"You and I are not the same, but we're not so very different. You had a childhood, but it didn't last and you were not allowed to keep it, and I haven't had my family very long, and I am always afraid that that won't last either." She paused briefly, looked over at Logan who nodded her on, and she continued.

"I was made for death and blood, and you were remade for the same things, but it isn't all that we are. My family has shown me that I can feel everything there is to feel in this world just like anyone else can, but you showed me that even when I don't feel like anything that ever was before, that doesn't make it wrong. It just makes me who I am." The camera refocused on her hands, clasped in Kyle's, then back to her veiled face.

"I know we're not like anything that ever was. But that doesn't make us wrong, and I know that you know that." Her voice wavered a little but she didn't let it break.

"I love you for everything that makes us different, and everything that makes us the same. I love you because of nothing and everything and because I just do. I love you because even though we've been changed and broken so many times and we won't be the same as we are now forever, I can't imagine forever without you there. So I'm here to ask you to share forever with me. I am here today to do more than bind myself to you – I am here to prove that we mean something. That we are something. Us. And just because it's different, it isn't any less right..."

Remy's eyes glowed dimly, and when he spoke his voice was choked with emotion, but he managed to sound both dignified and humorous at the same time when he did.

"Well dat's a hard act t' follow, _mon ami,_ but let's give it a shot, _non?_" The camera zoomed in on Kyle's face, blue eyes looking suspiciously shiny but otherwise the feral just held onto Laura's hands and took a deep breath.

"I'll be the first to admit that I haven't had much of a life," he said, voice as deep and gravelly as ever, but with an edge to it that wasn't usually present.

"I've done things – _been_ things – that shouldn't ever be spoken of, and you've never once judged me for everything I have been, or for anything I might have done in the past. You're the only person who has never judged me for what I _am_. For what I always will be. My world was death and blood, my life was nothing to me and noone else's mattered either. I didn't know that they could." He spoke evenly, repeating pure fact, and it was completely obvious that this was the speech of a man who bares his soul to the one who owns it and knows that nothing she sees there will be unfamiliar to her, but that it needs to be said anyway. Needs to be heard.

"I didn't know who I was – _what_ I was. And then I met you, and it didn't matter what I was. Because I knew I'd be anything you wanted me to be." The camera focused on Storm's face for a second, the silent tears running down her cheeks testament to the emotion of the moment. It returned to Laura and Kyle just in time.

"Everything the world has done to you has somehow made you more beautiful, even when the pain you've gone through would have killed a lesser person, even when the things you have lived through would have driven anyone else to the brink and pushed them over. It took less than what you have endured to make me a monster. I know that when people look at me, when they learn who I am and what I've done, they think less of me. But anything good that I still have inside me is there because of you. Everything that redeems me, exists because of you. Because the only forgiveness that matters to me anymore is yours."

The camera zoomed in to Laura's veiled face, darker spots marring the fine material, then it zoomed out to show Kitty whose hands were covering her mouth as she wept to prevent any interruptions. Lance put a hand on her arm and she closed her fingers over it and smiled at him, lips quivering. The camera returned to the couple just as Kyle's voice lowered an octave and he said in so low a voice that the camera almost didn't pick up on it,

"You are everything I have ever loved and everything I will ever want. Without you, forever means nothing. With you, it seems too short..."

Remy took a moment to compose himself, clearing his throat before he spoke and blinking a few times.

"Do y', Laura Howlett, take dis man t' be y' lawfully wedded husband? T' have an' t' hold, t' fight wit' an' beside, f' richer, f' poorer, t'rough de moltin' season, in case o' male pattern baldness an' despite de temper problems, 'til death do y' part?" he asked in a voice quavering with emotion. Her veil fluttered as she breathed in.

"I do..." she whispered, again barely loud enough for the congregation to hear or the camera to pick up on, but Remy and Kyle heard and were satisfied, for Remy turned to Kyle and asked,

"Do y', Kyle Gibney, take dis _petite femme_ t' be y' lawfully wedded wife? T' have an' t' hold, t' fight wit' an' beside, t' honour, obey, cherish an' love, in courage an' adversity, t'rough anytin' dis world t'rows at y', 'til death do y' part?"

"I do," Kyle said clearly, quite the feat since he was looking quite emotional himself, and Remy held up his hands and said in a loud, carrying voice,

"If anyone knows any reason why dis man an' dis woman should not be joined in matrimony, speak now, or forever keep y' damn mout' shut!" There was a silent, fraught moment, and then Remy thundered out,

"I t'ought not! In dat case, I pronounce y' husband an' wife, y' may kiss de bride!" Laura threw back her veil and jumped into Kyle's arms, kissing him hard as he swung her around, exposing the seven-inch platform boots she'd been wearing underneath her floaty, chiffon-skirted, corsetted black wedding gown. There was a resounding cheer from the onlookers, the wedded couple let go of eachother and yelled along with everyone else, and the cameraman let out a definitely Australian,

"Hell yeah! _That's_ the way, my son! That's how ya wanna do it!" while the newly weds ran down the 'aisle' and out of the frame, the cameraman getting caught up in the wave of onlookers who turned to follow them, and the picture scrambling again.

Rogue pressed 'Stop' just in time before the footage of the afterparty could materialise, Remy diving towards the player to retrieve the evidence, and looked out at the shocked faces of the mansion's student population. The silence was broken, as usual, by Bobby.

"Goddamn that was one badass ceremony!" he exclaimed, sounding both shocked and impressed. Rogue was pleased to see that all the girls had tearstreaked faces including Kitty who seemed to have been reliving the emotion of it all, and looked up to see Kyle and Laura standing next to Logan and Ororo, Laura's face a satisfied grin, Kyle's arm around her as he grinned like the canary-scoffing cat of legend.

"Oh my GOD! That was beautiful!" Amara wailed, going into floods of tears as she fell into Jubilee's arms and they commenced their almost end-of-rom-com-worthy weep-fest.

"That's just what I want my wedding to be like!" Boom-Boom cried, joining in the hug. Kitty looked torn for a moment before diving into the midst of all the crying and giving in to the tears.

"Damn, you married her!" Sam yelled, pointing at Kyle with an almost disbelieving finger, and Kyle shrugged.

"I did," he confirmed, and suddenly he and Laura were stormed by the entire student body, all full of congratulations and praise and in some cases tears.

"Hey, mind the bride," Logan said gruffly, but he was ignored completely as talk of wedding gifts and speeches and true love abounded. Suddenly however, Jamie piped up.

"Hey! You never gave her a ring! You're not really married without a ring!" Kyle raised an eyebrow at him and then grinned at Laura in a private sort of way.

"Oh, we're married then. _Very_ married," Laura said airily, leaning up to kiss her husband's heavily-pierced ear.

The only reply was a shocked silence.


End file.
